However, each degree focuses on different groups and aspects of care. Understanding what these two degrees are and what careers they may lead to can help you decide which degree suits you best. In this article, we define each degree, list the similarities and differences between an MSW and MFT and offer tips to help you decide which degree is right for you. This degree requires at least two years of additional education after you've earned a bachelor's degree in social work or a related field.
Related: What Is a Social Worker? A Master of Marriage and Family Therapy MFT is an advanced degree that trains students in psychotherapy and performing psychotherapy duties for family units. Graduates with an MFT often become marriage and family therapists MFTs , counselors or other mental health professionals. The most popular accreditation for universities in the U. Both MSW and MFT degrees require a bachelor's degree in related areas, allowing you to choose your specialization when applying for your advanced degree.
You can focus on either family therapy or social work during your undergraduate studies, and these subjects relate closely enough that you can choose your master's degree in either. These similar courses can also help you learn more about your chosen focus before moving on to graduate school. While an MSW student's education has a broader focus than an MFT student's specialized work with families, their training follows a very similar path.
Typically, both degrees require two years of supervised clinical training, often through an internship. This allows trainees to work with an established professional as they learn how to perform daily duties for their respective careers and apply concepts from their college coursework.
Those earning an MSW or MFT follow similar educational and training paths, but these degrees offer different benefits and career opportunities. During college, MFT students learn about many specific aspects of families, family systems and family psychology.
Their education gives them a strong background in topics that relate directly to their chosen specialization, which might include:.
Those seeking an MSW can also choose a specialized focus for their practice. However, their formal training and education include a broad, generalized collection of subjects relevant to social work. Topics typically covered in an MSW student's education include:. Each state has its own license requirements for both social workers and family therapists.
Those graduating with an MSW need to earn a license in order to practice as a social worker. The most popular license for a social worker is the LCSW, which can allow them to diagnose and treat clients with psychological issues.
Most states only require a license if a clinical social worker plans to open their own practice. Many states also require LCSWs to earn continuing education credits in order to keep their licenses. Most states require licensure from all clinical MFTs. So both degrees offer a short time frame from which to be launched as a therapist. By comparison, the longer track — earning a graduate psychology degree — is a three year academic undertaking. As mentioned previously, marital and family therapy is a regulated profession, so therapists are held to strict licensure requirements.
For both MFTs and MSWs, the professional licensure requirement protects the public by ensuring that marriage and family therapists adhere to national standards of conduct, ethics, and training. This is a necessary measure of quality control and oversight, because marital and family therapists can dramatically impact the individuals they treat.
As part of the regulatory process, all 50 states require that any marital and family therapist pursue an additional two years of post-graduate clinical experience. This must be supervised by a trained and licensed mental health professional. Fortunately, candidates can complete this training while working in salaried, full-time jobs. After the completion of their training, counselors are eligible to take state examinations and become licensed. While the MFT and MSW tracks share some common ground in educating future marriage and family therapists, there are distinctions between the two approaches.
As an LCSW, any social worker can work in a clinical capacity evaluating the emotional and relational dynamics of family struggles. Note, however, that although they are working in the field of marriage and family therapy, social workers stay tethered to their professional identities. They become licensed clinical social workers , not licensed marital and family therapists. Social workers can specialize in that particular area, however, with an LCSW.
The first step is to choose a graduate program that offers a clinical concentration. The second is to establish a fieldwork placement that will further develop those clinical skills. Fortunately, this kind of training is considered the bread and butter of social work. Many MSW programs offer strong clinical tracks. Another point of difference between the MFT and the MSW is that the social worker receives broad training across many traditional social work practice areas.
All accredited MSW programs share a core set of competencies that dictate a foundational curriculum. This is what social work education is about: a broad foundation that is diverse in scope. It gives MSWs greater versatility in the workplace. MSWs are well positioned to work in many different jobs. They may be able to seek employment in a greater variety of therapeutic settings and than their MFT counterparts.
As an academic discipline, the MSW exposes students to a broad range of practice areas. Furthermore, MSWs tend to be in high demand on the job market. They are favored by many employers and in health care settings, because they are often preferred for reimbursements by Medicare and Medicaid. A drawback to this versatility, however, is that some MSWs may feel less prepared to be clinicians.
While both career paths possess major similarities, the two areas of study also possess vast differences in overall educational paths and treatment focus. One of the biggest differences between an MFT and LCSW degree is the nature of training for a student pursuing one of these particular areas of therapy and social work.
MFT's become mental health professionals who have undergone training in psychotherapy and family systems. A MFT degree trains students to develop a theoretical approach towards treating patients and clients, which is referred to as 'systems theory. They mostly provide marriage counseling, group therapy, and family intervention. Interest in an online MFT degree? LCSW's are licensed social workers who generally follow a traditional psychological approach towards counseling, which primarily concentrates on providing individual treatment.
A student in an LCSW degree program receives clinical training, which prepares a graduate to provide therapy and counseling services to patients in schools, health settings, and other positions where clinical work takes place — something that a social worker with a bachelor's degree cannot. LCSW training often focuses on entering agency work, such as assuming a position with the government or mental health organizations.
A graduate with an LCSW degree places emphasis on psychosocial diagnosis, assessment and treatment, client advocacy, consultation, evaluation, and research, as well as performs community work and therapeutic intervention. After obtaining an MFT degree , graduates must work under supervision until they are able to gain his or her license. While requirements vary from state to state, MFTs must complete a designated number of supervised hours, which include gaining experience in group therapy, family therapy, and phone counseling.
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